Long-awaited Inwood park opens

Columbia University finally opened a promised marshland sanctuary after construction was delayed by Hurricane Sandy. The Inwood preserve was agreed to as part of a deal that allowed Columbia to expand in Northern Manhattan.

The new green space, called Muscota Marsh, sits at 218th Street and Indian Road and will fill a gap in access to the Harlem River for residents, extending the riverfront of adjacent Inwood Hill Park.

The park’s opening was delayed when Hurricane Sandy pushed back construction, as The Real Deal reported. The park was a caveat to Columbia’s agreement to erect the Campbell Sports Center, on 218th Street and Broadway, according to the New York Times.

Inwood’s first Starbucks has also recently arrived to the neighborhood, leasing 1,400 square feet on the corner of Dyckman Street and Broadway, and residents say the coffee purveyor is the sign of their neighborhood’s gentrification. The first mid-rise modular apartment building is also new in the neighborhood, at 4857 Broadway.

“When Starbucks comes, the likelihood of some more national companies coming probably increases,” said David Firestein, the Shopping Center Group partner who represented Starbucks’ new lease, to Crain’s. [NYT] –– Angela Hunt